Its What You Do, 24Sept11

I've been thinking again.  Whether we actually create the events which occur in our lives is debated by some, and I'm not going to get hung up there, because there is a more important, and more manageable, idea I wanted to put out there this morning. 

It's not what happens 'to' us as much as what we do with that, how we think about it, how we respond to it, how we ruminate incessantly about it, etc., etc., etc. 

If I perceive that I have been slighted by someone and I don't do anything about it, except mull it over, it has a tendency to grow into this gigantic, miserable monstrosity, which is strictly a construct of my very busy brain.  So, to prevent this nonsense from happening, I have two choices.  I can try to talk with this person and see what's really going on (and discover, most likely, we were using the same words and not speaking the same language ... or maybe we were and there really is an issue to resolve), or I can let it go, really let it go, put it down, and get on with my life. 

It's seldom the events themselves, but it is what we do with them that give our lives great joy or great angst.  I choose joy.  Again and again and again.  I choose joy.

What's your Thrill Level? 13Sept11

I woke up this morning thinking.  Those of you who know me well, know this isn't much of a surprise.  Even the fact that it was 3 am when I woke up thinking isn't much of a surprise these days.  It just means there is a nap to be scheduled sometime in my near future, today.

I remember hearing a story, whether actual or allegorical I don't know, about a teen and her mother on a ferry crossing a large lake.  A storm kicked up and the teen was out on the foredeck of the ferry enjoying the storm.  The mother scolded the teen and told her to come in out of the storm.  The teen instead talked her mother out onto the deck to experience the storm.  When it was over they were talking about it.  The teen asked her mother what she was experiencing and the mother described her physiological responses, rapid heart rate, adrenaline rushing, sweaty palms... and described her fear of the storm.  The daughter then said that she was experiencing identical physical responses and recognized them as excitement.  

The I-Ching is an ancient Chinese oracle with 64 hexagrams.  One of the hexagrams is Thunder/Thunder.  In the translation that I use by Rod and Amy-Max Sorrell (called The I-Ching Made Easy) it expresses itself as "Shock, Surprise, Excitement, All Shook Up" and the description goes on to say "The shock of coming across something quite unexpected.  Scared and then excited.  First terror, then laughter.  The germination of a seed in the spring.  The stimulation of sexual arousal.  The subtle difference between terror and excitement.  Some enjoy the storm and some run from it.  What's your thrill level?"  My sister loves storms, her dog did not.

I tend to side with my sister and with the teen in the story.  As a rule, I perceive that things that raise my pulse are positive exciting events rather than something to be feared.  That's been my experience, and is my expectation.  But that's just me.

You Asked for It! 6Sept11

I've been watching how some of my friends treat each other and how the others feel about they way they feel they are being treated.  I've been thinking about what St. Paul says in Galatians 6:7 "... whatsoever a man soweth, that he shall also reap" (KJV).  I don't believe this applies just to how we treat others, or our own actions outward toward others or to inanimate objects; I think this also applies to how we teach other people to treat us.  

If we allow someone to appear to take advantage of us, that's our choice and it has consequences both for us and for the person who seems to be taking advantage of us.  If we resist someone who appears to desire to take advantage of our 'good nature', there are choices and consequences to that action as well.  Each of us gets to decide in the bigger picture, through our choices and actions, where we want to be on this continuum of choice and consequence, cause and effect.

There's also a tangent about how we treat and think about ourselves.  If we see ourselves in a generally positive light then we tend to get positive outcomes, and tend to have positive experiences (or at least we can more easily find that silver lining in the cloud).  If we tend to see ourselves in a negative light, that's what we get, too.

We are responsible for our actions, our choices, our decisions and how we experience what we allow to happen to us. There are no victims, everything is an opportunity to see something or someone in a new light and choose differently if we don't like a particular outcome.  It's all sowing and reaping and sowing and reaping again and again and again.

Eat That Frog! 5Sept11

It always amazes me how quickly a task that I may have postponed for weeks and weeks is actually accomplished when I finally just do it.  Today's story was about re-wrapping some insulation around some exterior water pipes with reflective sticky tape. The repairman didn't put it back together after he fixed the leak (that's quite another story) and I have been conscious of the need to do this inconsequential and gargantuan task for ages and ages but there was always something preventing me, it was always too dark, or too hot, or too late, or too early, or too something. 

As I finally steeled myself to go do it, and I realized it took maybe 3 minutes, I was laughing to and at myself.  I was also reminded of a great book I read several years ago by Brian Tracy called Eat That Frog!  Twenty-one Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.  Now that 'school' is starting for me again, maybe its time to get it out and go through it again.

No frogs were harmed in writing this note.

Life is but a Dream, 1Sept2011

So, there's this Reader's Digest contest, Give us the 'Reader's Digest version of some event in Your Life, and do it in 150 words or less, and if we pick you (no criteria identified) you can win $25,000.  I thought,"That would be cool.  I wonder what story I could tell from my life that is short, sweet and to the point "(i.e. could be told in 150 words or less).  I let the question simmer overnight and this is what came up.

Everyone has a song.

Several years ago I came to the Arizona desert to study with a Native American.  One of the ceremonies we did at the conclusion of one of the weeks was to sing 'our song' to Grandfather Mountain.  I'm not a singer.  In fact, I'm pretty shy.  I dreaded this activity all week and wondered what song I knew well enough to feel comfortable singing out loud, loudly enough to be heard across the valley.  When it was time for the ceremony, I still didn't know what I was going to sing.  When it was my turn, I got very quiet inside, meditating.  The song that floated up in my consciousness was "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."  I laughed out loud.  What a perfect song for me to sing.  Indeed, Life is but a Dream.